


the light of my life

by sithladymeg



Category: RWBY
Genre: Feels, Fluff, Gen, Kid Fic, Kinda, and family connections, because yang and ruby are kids in this, idk - Freeform, it's possibly a song fic, there's some yelling with cursing at one point but it's not too angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-18
Updated: 2015-11-18
Packaged: 2018-05-02 06:22:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5237705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sithladymeg/pseuds/sithladymeg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He, Qrow Branwen, was sitting in a hospital chair besides his team-mates hospital bed, holding a baby in his hands. Why was he the one holding the baby? It would’ve been a much better decision to let Taiyang, hold the thing. </p>
<p>  <i>The world is brighter than the sun</i><br/><i>Now that you’re here. </i></p>
<p>But as Yang Xiao Long settled in his arms; the first rays of morning light shimmered through the window, and nothing, no the inner turmoil he felt, nor the vicious battles he knew were being fought, could change the utter sense of peace that surrounded him.</p>
<p>  <i>I’ll give you everything I have.</i><br/><i>I’ll teach you everything I know.</i><br/><i>I promise I’ll do better.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	the light of my life

**Author's Note:**

> When Qrow Branwen was introduced to us in this wonderful 3rd Volume of RWBY, I was like "oh no, it's a drunken self-satisfied and smug ****" but then he was all fist-bump and uncle-y interactions with Ruby and my heart was stolen.
> 
> So out of that came this; a fic written in 40 minutes with [ this song ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7egYKkIKqDs) on loop; I swear Sleeping at Last never actually puts me too sleep but instead wrecks my emotions.
> 
> This work is also un-beta'd; but if you'd like to beta let me know, and if you as a reader find any mistakes, glaring or not, please feel free to drop a comment! 
> 
> The same if you have any other comments/feedback, I'm always looking for ways to improve!
> 
> I also have a [Tumblr](www.sithladymeg.tumblr.com) where I occasionally post ideas, headcanons, drabbles, ficlets, doodles, sketches, drawing and fanmixes!

_May these words be the first_  
_To find your ears._  
_The world is brighter than the sun_  
_Now that you’re here._  
_Though your eyes will need some time to adjust_  
_To the overwhelming light surrounding us,_

 

It’s a fucking miracle, that’s what it it. It hadn’t been an easy pregnancy by a long shot, and the rising number of Grimm attacks hadn’t helped either. Raven had always been the kind of person to stand steadfast in her beliefs and not stop being a guardian at any costs; even if carrying a life inside her probably should have made her stop being so reckless in battle. 

 

But now he, Qrow Branwen, was sitting in a hospital chair besides his team-mates hospital bed, holding a _baby_ in his hands. Why was he the one holding the baby? It would’ve been a much better decision to let Taiyang, hold the thing. He was the fucking provider of the paternal genes after all. But no, Taiyang and his sister had to go on an emergency Grimm-fighting mission, leaving him to look after the highly pregnant Raven. And it wasn’t like Raven had helped the situation, deciding to go into labour when he was the only one present to get her to help. 

 

_“Grbgrl,”_ a soft gurgle pulled him from his thoughts and his eyes snapped to the bundle in his arms; the bundle of pale pink (because gender assignments) blankets was wriggling as the baby held within woke up.He must have smelled unfamiliar to the baby, because her face scrunched up in preparation for a series of very loud wails; and _oh god_ , Raven had just fallen asleep, please don’t.

 

“ _Shhh, don’t worry!”_ he murmured, gently rocking the bundle in the way he could recall his mother rocking Raven, “ _Uncle Qrow’s got ya!, and he’ll protect you don’t you worry!.”_

 

Large eyes blinked open, and the breath caught in Qrow’s throat as familiar shimmers of uncontrolled red semblance flickered in their depths, and Qrow felt fear. For the bundle in his arms and for the world that would have to learn to deal with it.

 

But as Yang Xiao Long settled in his arms; the first rays of morning light shimmered through the window, and nothing, no the inner turmoil he felt, nor the vicious battles he knew were being fought, could change the utter sense of peace that surrounded him.

 

 

_I’ll give you everything I have._  
_I’ll teach you everything I know._  
_I promise I’ll do better._

 

He had no idea as to why he got saddles with babysitting duties, as him and his team-members alike, were well aware he was probably the least responsible of all, but regardless of that, he was stuck in the house once again, watching the blonde toddler waggle around the room.

 

_“Uncwe Qwow!”_ came an excited squeal, as Yang found the dollhouse she’s been looking for, _“wook!”_

 

_“That’s a pretty dollhouse you go there Yang,”_ he leant forward from his reclined position, opening his arms as a zoning target for the hyper child, _“is Glynda going to live in it now?”_ he queried, trying to suppress the smile that always threatened to break out on his face when he remembered that the cuddly teddybear had been named after the fierce headmaster’s assistant.

 

_“Yef!”_ came the reply, as Yang slammed the dollhouse down in front of him and made the teddybear dance on the roof, Qrow watched as Yang babbled away about some trivial task as if it were a great big adventure. He saw the joy flicker in her eyes, but he saw another flicker too. He was already leaning forwards before he’d fully recognised the semblance bubbling up within his niece but he was already too late; Yang’s semblance had made on of Glynda’s normal roof dances into a jackhammer’s hit, and the dollhouse lay in shambles.

 

Big tears welled up in Yang’s eyes, and he fumbled to gather in his arms. Great sobs wrecked through her tiny frame and his heart wrenched with the empathy he felt; memories of wreckages he’d made, both in childhood and more recently, welled to the surface of his mind. With sudden determination he scooped the girl up and walked out to the garden, he was going to teach his niece control over her semblance in hopes that it’d save her pain in the future.

 

And when Raven and Taiyang came home later that afternoon to find Qrow and Yang curled up together in the middle of a backyard torn to shreds with sparks of dust and semblance still in the air, they couldn’t feel it in themselves to be mad.

 

 

_I will always hold you close,_  
_But I will learn to let you go._  
_I promise I’ll do better._

 

Qrow was grinning widely as the toddler on his shoulders continued into another long tangent about the large raven that’d just flown by, her small boots slamming excitedly into his shoulders, leaving mud patches on his previously clean coat, but he couldn’t find it in himself to be annoyed. He was taking Yang to her first day of pre-school, an occasion that the girl in question hadn’t been able to stop talking about for quite a while now.

 

_“-and that’s how my ribbon ended up at the top of the Oak Tree!”_ remarked his niece with a clap of her hands; before raising them high up the air so that he could swing her down from his shoulders.

 

_“And where are you and your ribbons going to go now?”_ he asked her as he set her down on the courtyard just outside the pre-school gates.

 

_“Pre-school!”_ she yelled loudly, doing a small victory dance before turning around and running into the building, tossing an absent-minded “buh-bye Uncle Qrow” over her shoulder as she pushed open the doors.

 

He sat there for a while, crouched down with his hands extended for the hug he’d expected, before shaking his head at the absurdity. It’s not like he’d given his parents a second-glance when the opportunity to leave them for pre-school had arisen. _but then again,_ he thought as he saw a uniformed nanny drop of a boy with boring brown hair, his parents had only ever interacted with him through short clipped messages delivered by hired helps.

 

As he saw Yang excitedly talk to another toddler, he vowed to himself that he’d be there for his niece.

 

_I will soften every edge,_  
_I’ll hold the world to its best,_  
_And I’ll do better._

 

_“She’s a violent and destructive child! She should not be allowed to interact with other children!”_ the shrill voice of a frustrated parent reached his ear’s as he walked into the day-care; seeing as he was late to pick Yang up, he tried to avoid the confrontation, and he almost succeeded. Then he saw Yang standing in the corner of the room, hunched into herself with a quivering lip and tears running down her face, as she tried to hide away from the angry yelling mother and the daycare attendant.

 

“ _Ma’am,”_ the day-care attendant tried to interject, but the woman was having nothing of it.

 

“ _You will remove that monster of a child from this facility, and make her wretched parent pay me a compensation!”_ the woman demanded, her arms furiously gesturing towards Yang in the corner, and a smug-looking boy standing next to her leg.

 

Qrow quickly swooped past the arguing people to crouch next to his niece, murmuring sweet reassurances at her; trying to convey to her that she was an angel worth more than the whole world and that this woman could not change that with her words; but as another volley of insults was shot out of the lady’s mouth, he steeled himself.

 

_With every heartbeat I have left_  
_I will defend your every breath,_  
_And I’ll do better._

 

“ _How dare you. an adult. stand here emotionally abusing a child!”_ he snapped at her, eyes filled with fire, and sparks of his semblance flickering through, “ _children are still learning about the world and how to interact with it! You. should_ already _know how to respect a child.”_

 

Scooping Yang into his arms he left the day-care premises, hugging her tightly to his chest as he tried to comfort her. And if he spent the rest of that afternoon sending rather vocal messages to the day-care facility concerning it’s treatment of children and emotional abuse alike; then at least he felt like he’d done more than his parents had ever done when he got in trouble for being unable to control his strength.

 

_’Сause you are loved._  
_You are loved more than you know._  
_I hereby pledge all of my days_

 

When Summer proclaimed that she was pregnant, Qrow had spent the rest of the that afternoon sitting with Yang and discussing siblings; from the love that parents would share, and “ _No Yang, they won’t stop loving you, there’ll just be more people there to love you.”_

 

And if he spent the entire time absent-mindedly reminiscing about his first years being Raven’s older brother, and how his parents had focused most of their attention on this new attempt at success and almost forgetting the failure that had been their first attempt, then it only made his resolve to show Yang that she would still be loved more resolute.

 

_To prove it so._  
_Though your heart is far too young to realize_  
_The unimaginable light you hold inside,_

 

The picture of Yang holding the new-born and blanket wrapped Ruby Rose in her arms would forever be burned into Qrow’s memory; and if there was emotions bubbling up inside him at how much better person Yang was already showing signs of being, then at least he could fool himself into thinking it was him being worried. Worried for all the people that would trample of Yang’s love, and worried for all the shadow’s that would try to dim her joyous light.

 

_I’ll give you everything I have._  
_I’ll teach you everything I know._  
_I promise I’ll do better._

 

There’d been a short time when Qrow had fooled himself into thinking he could be aloof with actual niece, to balance out the love that the giggly little girl received from every other person she met. But that had been him truly grasping at the last straws of keeping up a modicum of cold-hearted and battle-hardened warrior; but he’d cracked with Yang and he’d found no time to build up his walls for his second niece.

 

So when the young girl had walked up to him during one of Yang’s training sessions; small arms wrapped tightly around his scythe, eyes full of hope at having her ‘ _amazing uncle Qrow’_ teaching her how to fight. There’d been no bone within his body that had thought about refusing; there were a couple, especially his shin-bones that whinged about postponing the training as they were continuously attacked by the short girl, but there was no way the words ‘ _no, I can’t’_ had left his mouth.

 

As the garden’s of the Branwen house were massacres once more; this time with slashed marble statues and chopped trees; there was nothing Taiyang could do besides shake his head fondly.

 

_I will always hold you close,_  
_But I will learn to let you go._  
_I promise I’ll do better._

 

Qrow’d been watching as Ruby and Yang both stepped onto the shuttle that would take them to Beacon Academy; and as much as he was fighting the urge to run up to them drag them from the shuttle and hide them away from the dangers of the world, he also realised that they needed to be let go for them to continue growing.

 

As he was pondering if it wasn’t too soon for Ruby to go, but then he recalled the memories of Yang and Ruby sitting in that cart in the middle of the woods, together even in one of their more questionable adventures, and he realised that the two of them were practically dependant. He hoped their sibling relationship could help them and their new team, that the sisterly bond would expand to the other two members and that being siblings wouldn’t drive a wedge between them and most of all he hoped that they’d manage without him. Because he had some mistakes to fix; and some people to apologise to.

 

_I will rearrange the stars,_  
_Pull ‘em down to where you are._  
_I promise, I’ll do better._

 

To take Ozpin’s mission would be like accepting a suicide mission; going undercover in the middle of the enemy’s camp so that they could gather intel that often had very little impact on the armies decisions anyways, going undercover between people that wouldn’t hesitate to slit his throat with his own scythe if he made a mistake, he’d seen the way the goon’s were treated. Expendable. And unless he made himself unexpendable he faced the same fate, but if he made himself unexpendable he’d be scrutinised more and the risk of him getting caught increased exponentially.

 

Still he took it; because there was a small chance that intel he gather could turn this war in their favour, and any chance to minimise the harm to his nieces was one he’d take. Even if it resulted in the end of his heartbeats. He would do it. 

 

As he stepped of the platform and entered the enemy’s lair, he murmured a promise.

 

_With every heartbeat I have left,_  
_I’ll defend your every breath._  
_I promise I’ll do better._

 

_I will soften every edge,_  
_Hold the world to its best._  
_I promise I’ll do better._

 

_With every heartbeat I have left,_  
_I’ll defend your every breath,_  
_(I’ll do better.)_

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks again for reading!  
> Do let me know if there's any improvements I can make; in general or specific to the spelling/grammar/format of this fic!
> 
> And don't remember to give [ this song ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7egYKkIKqDs) a listen; it's Light by Sleeping at Last, and while this is only one interpretation of the song and lyrics, I'm sure you'd be able to fit it to any gen/brOTP/OTP you have in mind! :)


End file.
